Manchester City: A

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They may not have performed in Europe as well as they might have hoped, and being knocked out of the FA Cup by their rivals, Manchester United, would have hurt, but this season has ultimately been a triumph for City.

Forty-four years of hurt were finally brought to an end with the most dramatic end to a season seen in English football since 1989.

After racing into an early lead, including a memorable 6-1 thrashing of United at Old Trafford, City seemed like it would stroll to the title.

But they briefly lost their nerve and allowed United to open up a eight-point lead at the top of the table by early April.

United blew their lead, and City secured the title with a dramatic last-minute winner from Sergio Aguero.

It's hardly the fairytale that some have claimed; City's billions were always going to pay off eventually.

But they have played some great football this season and look set to dominate English football for the foreseeable future.

Arsenal: C+

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After the series of calamities that befell Arsenal last summer, culminating in the historic 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford, most Arsenal fans (including myself) would have been ecstatic about a third-place finish if we'd been offered it on September 1 last year.

But, when judged as a whole, this has been a poor season for Arsenal.

The team has had star performers, such as Mikel Arteta, Laurent Koscielny, and, of course, Robin van Persie.

But the amount of highly-paid dross within the Arsenal squad is now startling.

Arsenal's lack of squad depth meant that their fight for Champions League qualification went down to the last day of the season, where they were a handful of goalkeeping blunders away from finishing in fourth place (and missing out).

And they did not come close to trophies elsewhere. A 4-0 hammering in Milan and a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Sunderland in the FA Cup put paid to any chance of significant silverware.

In short, Arsenal have reached another decisive summer.

Can they hold onto their best players, sign top talent and actually challenge for trophies next year?

Or will they simply make up the numbers once more, trundling towards Champions League qualification without ever seriously troubling the league leaders?

Tottenham: C+

Tottenham finished in fourth place but failed to qualify for the Champions League due to Chelsea's victory in Munich.

The disappointment masks the fact that Tottenham have improved in the league this season, earning seven more points and moving up one position.

Harry Redknapp may have made himself dizzy with all his claims and counter-claims about whether Spurs were ever serious contenders for the title, but from the perspective of more realistic expectations, Tottenham have performed fairly well in the league this year.

A disastrous FA Cup semifinal against Chelsea might be viewed as unjust due to Juan Mata's phantom "goal," but Chelsea still put another four goals past them in the game. It was a disappointing end to a decent cup run.

A similarly disastrous performance against Arsenal saw them surrender a two-goal lead in the game, which precipitated a collapse in the league that saw them finish behind their North London rivals.

Whatever travails Arsenal may face this summer, Spurs are surely in for just as bad a time.

With no Champions League football, hanging on to the likes of Luka Modric, Gareth Bale and Emmanuel Adebayor will be hard for Spurs.

Chelsea: A

It seems that pouring billions of pounds into a club can, ultimately, win you the highest prize in club football after Chelsea's incredible Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich.

A season which seemed to be heading towards (relative) disaster was turned around with the firing of Andre Villas-Boas in early March.

While Roberto di Matteo did little to turn around Chelsea's appalling league form, he somehow managed to snatch historic wins against Barcelona, Bayern and Liverpool to take two trophies back to West London.

Whether this is the last hurrah for an aging squad, or the start of a new beginning, remains to be seen.

Liverpool: D

Only the most blinkered of fans could deny that this season has been anything other than an utter shambles for Liverpool.

After spending millions of pounds in the summer, the result has been a league campaign that has seen Liverpool finish behind their Merseyside rivals, Everton, gaining six fewer points in the process.

This was meant to be the season that "King Kenny" put together a side that got Liverpool back into the Champions League and maybe even challenged for the title.

Instead, Liverpool have finished eighth and needed a penalty shoot-out to beat Championship-side Cardiff in the Carling Cup final.

Luis Suarez showed flashes of brilliance, but the performances of Andy Carroll, Stuart Downing, Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam make it look like Liverpool have wasted the best part of £100 million.

And whatever your opinion of it, the Suarez affair was poorly handled by the club, typified by the ludicrous t-shirts that Kenny Dalglish and his players wore in support of the Uruguayan player in December.

Whoever inherits Dalglish's position has a massive job on his hands.

Liverpool can and must improve on a season that most fans will want to forget.

Wigan Athletic: C+

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It's been an oddly memorable season for Wigan.

After struggling to pull themselves out of the relegation battle all year, they suddenly managed to beat Manchester United and Arsenal and then thrashed Newcastle, in three memorable performances that saw them to safety.

Their performances towards the end of the season were so good that they earned Roberto Martinez an interview for the vacant Liverpool job.

It's a sign of how quickly people's opinions change in football that Martinez was heading towards the sack until March, and now he's being offered one of the biggest positions in English football.

Because, really, this hasn't been that great a season for Wigan.

One more point and one place higher up the table doesn't really suggest that much progress has been made.